Swedish Fortifications Agency

Swedish Fortifications Agency
Fortifikationsverket

The coat of arms of the Swedish Fortifications Agency
Agency overview
Formed 1994[1]
Preceding agency
  • Fortifikationsförvaltningen (1948-1994)[1]
Jurisdiction Sweden Government of Sweden
Headquarters Kungsgatan 43
631 89 Eskilstuna[2]
Employees 689 (as of 2008)[3]
Annual budget Self-sufficient through fees.[4]
Revenue 3.0 billion SEK(2008)[5]
Minister responsible
Agency executive
Parent agency Ministry of Finance[8]
Website Fortv.se

The Swedish Fortifications Agency (SFA) (Swedish: Fortifikationsverket, abbreviated FortV) is a Swedish government agency under the Swedish Ministry of Finance (Finansdepartementet), tasked with managing government-owned defense-related buildings and land.[9] The agency functions as the landlord for the Swedish Armed Forces (Försvarsmakten), managing various types of military installations.[8][10] The SFA is one of the largest holders of real estate in Sweden.[8]

Function in the government

The formation of the SFA in 1994 was part of the Swedish government effort to increase the cost-efficiency of government real estate usage through a system of internal rent, which was meant to emulate market-like conditions.[11] The main purpose with the reform was to create economic incentives for the authorities in the public sector to economise on premises.[12] In the defense sector, the real estate holdings were transferred from the Swedish Armed Forces — the user of the real estate — to the SFA; with the Swedish Armed Forces remaining in the estate as a tenant.[11]

Currently, the SFA acts as landlord for several Swedish government agencies in the defense sector.[13] The main tenant is the Swedish Armed Forces, which in 2007 was the source of over 90% of the SFA:s revenue.[13]

Economy

The SFA does not receive an allowance from the government budget.[4] Instead, it covers its expenses by charging rent for the real estate it leases.[4] In 2008, the agency's revenue was 3.0 billion SEK, and its net income 67 million SEK.[5] The rent is adjusted so that the net income — which goes into the state treasury — conforms to a predefined level of return on equity, as set by the Ministry of Finance.[14] To finance investments, the SFA borrows money from the National Debt Office (Riksgälden), which acts as the internal bank of the government.[15]

Personnel

The SFA employed 689 people in 2008.[3] The majority of the employees work on a local level in real estate units linked to garrisons,[16] where employees work in areas such as project management, property development and maintenance services.[17] At the regional and national level, employees work in real estate purchasing and sales, defense facility development, and various management functions.[17] The SFA considers its core competencies to be security and protective technology.[18] The agency has stated that it aims to increase the amount of outsourcing, and as an experiment in 2006, it outsourced the property maintenance of two garrisons.[19]

Karlberg Palace (Karlbergs Slott) in Solna, Stockholm — which houses the Military Academy Karlberg (Militärhögskolan Karlberg) — is one of the properties managed by the SFA.[20]

Real estate stock

In 2008, the book value of the government real estate stock managed by the SFA was 10.1 billion SEK,[21] largely consisting of depots, garrisons, training facilities, offices, and proving grounds.[22] In 2007, the total real estate stock included:[23]

Notes

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 6/10/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.